I’m gonna throw you for a loop and start with the bad. James Shields tied a modern day major league record by giving up six home runs in this afternoon’s 17-11 loss to the Blue Jays. Shields is the eighth pitcher since 1920 to do it and the first since R.A. Dickey as a member of the Rangers in 2006.

There’s something inherently fluky about an outing like this, but the Jays entered the day with more home runs than anyone and Shields has struggled with the gopher ball all year long, so there was obviously the potential for disaster here. That’s pretty much what happened, as the Rays dropped their fourth consecutive game, a season-high.

Okay, now on to the good stuff. The Jays connected for eight home runs this afternoon. According to the fine folks at STATS LLC, the Yankees were the last team to hit eight homers in a game, back on July 31, 2007. Yes, Jose Bautista padded his major league lead with his 34th home run and Aaron Hill hit two homers of his own, but everybody is talking about the major league debut of J.P. Arencibia.

Arencibia, who was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas after John Buck was placed on the DL this week, went 4-for-5 with two home runs. In fact, he slugged a two-run homer off Shields on the very first pitch he saw in the second inning. He became the first Jays player to homer in his first major league at-bat since Junior Felix on May 4, 1989.

Arencibia later added a solo shot in the sixth. With a single and double, the former 2007 first-round pick finished a triple short of the cycle. According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, Arencibia is the first player since 1900 to have two homers and four hits in his first major league game. That’s quite an introduction. I hate using the old Wally Pipp analogy, but Buck might have to take a back seat to Arencibia when he returns.

Former Mets catcher Johnny Monell signed a contract with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization, per a report by Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. The 30-year-old originally struck a deal with the NC Dinos on Thursday, but the deal appeared to fall through at the last minute, according to Cotillo’s unnamed source.

Monell last surfaced for the Mets during their 2015 run, batting a dismal .167/.231/.208 with two extra bases in 52 PA before the club DFA’d him to clear space for Bartolo Colon. While he’s had difficulty sticking at the major league level, he’s found a higher degree of success in the minor league circuit and holds a career .271 average over a decade of minor league play. He played exclusively in Triple-A Las Vegas during the 2016 season, slashing .276/.336/.470 with 19 home runs and a career-high 75 RBI in 461 PA.

The veteran backstop appears to be the second MLB player to join the KT Wiz roster this offseason, as right-hander Donn Roach also signed with the club last month on a one-year, $850,000 deal.

Brewers’ right-hander Phil Bickford received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a drug of abuse, per the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin. This is the second time Bickford has been suspended for recreational drug use, as he was previously penalized in 2015 after testing positive for marijuana prior to the amateur draft.

Bickford was selected by the Giants in the first round of the 2015 draft and was later dealt to the Brewers for lefty reliever Will Smith at the 2016 trade deadline. He finished his 2016 campaign in High-A Brevard County, pitching to a 3.67 ERA, 10.0 K/9 rate and 5.0 BB/9 over 27 innings.

Two other suspensions were handed down on Friday, one to Toronto minor league right-hander Pedro Loficial for a positive test for metabolites of Stanozolol and one to Miami minor league outfielder Casey Soltis for a second positive test for drugs of abuse. Loficial will serve a 72-game suspension, while Soltis will serve 50 games. All three suspensions are due to start at the beginning of the 2017 season for each respective minor league team.

We are very disappointed to learn of Phil’s suspension, but we fully support the Minor League Baseball Drug Prevention and Testing Program and its enforcement by the Commissioner’s Office. Phil understands he made a mistake, and we fully anticipate that he will learn from this experience.